Edie’s martial arts journey began in her home city of Cebu, a place situated in the central region of the Philippines and home to some of the country’s great Eskrimadores.

Her intense yearning to learn the art of Eskrima, also popularly known as Arnis or Kali made her withstand the rigorous training at the world famous Doce Pares Club under the guidance of the Canetes – Supreme Grandmaster Ciriaco “Cacoy” Canete, Grandmaster Felimon “Momoy” Canete, Supreme Grandmaster Dionisio “Diony” Canete and Grandmaster Eulogio “Yuling” Canete. Doce Pares awakened her martial spirit by introducing her not only to her native art of Eskrima but also to the art of Judo and Aikido. It was during one of those training sessions that she met Grandmaster Bonifacio “Loloy” Uy, the former sparring partner of Supreme Grandmaster Cacoy and the founder of BDU Eskrima System. That brief encounter led to an invitation to train with Grandmaster Loloy.

Her one on one training sessions with Grandmaster Loloy polished her skills and deepened her understanding of the martial arts. With her sight set on the World Championships, Grandmaster Loloy continued to challenge her and pushed her limits in training. After a successful shot at the World Championships, Edie was pushed into teaching when asked to form a team to compete in a series of local and national tournaments to scout for new talents for the Philippine Team. While training and coaching a championship team, she discovered a new passion- a passion that led her to teach countless men, women and children the art of Eskrima, train and motivate them to make the best of the gifts that they’re given.

Along the way in her martial arts journey, Edie put together a self defense system called STRIVE (Survival Techniques & Response In Violent Encounters), a practical and easy to learn system geared for women and children.